The Atlas Obscura Podcast

For years, contributions from Black Americans to public spaces like beaches and museums have been hard to detect. Places Editors Jonathan and Michelle Cassidy take us to New Jersey’s Chicken Bone Beach and Chicago’s Field Museum to highlight a couple of these stories.

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We visit Jerry’s Hat Museum, where a retiree has turned to an old chapel to house a collection of thousands of hats, pens, odds, ends and other artifacts from his Illinois hometown.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/jerrys-hat-museum-illinois

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Listeners share their stories of places that made them feel at home, from the beaches of Australia to a ubiquitous coffee shop.

WE WANT YOUR STORIES! We’re working on a new slate of episodes that will feature listener stories, and want to hear yours. 

Tell us about your hometown’s weird or unique local tradition. Walk us through what goes down—who’s there and what’s happening? Is there an interesting history behind it? What was your relationship to this tradition like when you were growing up—did you partake? What’s your relationship to it now? Did/does it play a role in how you think about the world, or the corner of it you come from?

Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Just so you know, our mailbox will cut you off after two minutes so please call in if you get disconnected. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com. 

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The Hotel Theresa in Harlem, New York played a pivotal role in the influential neighborhood’s cultural identity.

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The founders of this prison in Philadelphia aimed to revolutionize incarceration for the better - and unintentionally created new horrors.  

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/eastern-state-penitentiary

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A producer revisits her hometown (Houston) and goes to the Buffalo Soldiers Museum, learning about the contributions of Black members of the armed forces and one man in particular, who started the collection years ago in his garage. 

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This giant rock has been used in the coronation of every English monarch since the 1300s, but is it authentic? Or could the real one be in a Scottish bar? We parse through the evidence and debate!

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/glasgows-stone-of-destiny

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We visit the misnamed “world’s loneliest house” and visit the flocks of puffins who live there. Some people want to eat them, some want to protect them. And these two groups collide here. 

If you want to learn more about the puffin situation in the Westman Islands, check out our episode called Puffin Patrol – about a community that sweeps the streets each night looking for lost pufflings and helping them find their way back to the beach.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ellidaey-island-lodge

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We take a hike up Great Blue Hill in Boston and get more than a stunning view of the city. A visit to the peak reveals the story of a weather observatory with the longest continuous daily weather record in the United States.

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A public health crisis plagued the Midwest until a simple solution was introduced to a ubiquitous cooking ingredient. 

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A mysterious religious community founded by an insurance agent-turned spiritual leader in northern Italy spent 15 years constructing an underground temple covered in intricate paintings, mosaics, trippy colors and images inspired by Roman, Greek and Egyptian mythology. 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/temple-of-damanhur

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Award-winning chef Sean Sherman, aka the Sioux Chef, has dedicated his Minneapolis restaurant to decolonized food and honoring indigenous meal traditions 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/owamni

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Mexico City is known for its museum and art scene. The collection at El Museo del Juguete Antiguo – The Antique Toy Museum – encourages visitors to lean into their imaginations – and reflect on the rich history and culture in this city.

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We go to south Florida and hear the story of a family that took a gamble on a humble roadside stand that blossomed into a fruit emporium and community staple. 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/robert-is-here

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This collection, preserved by the United States Library of Congress, features locks of hair from cultural icons from Beethoven to General Ulysses S. Grant.

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This museum in John Day, Oregon, was once a Chinese general store and medicine shop that dates back to the 1800s. But these days it’s a perfectly preserved time capsule, down to the fruit – down to the orange its former owner left on the counter in the 1950s. Tours of the shop are offered seasonally, but you can get a virtual look inside here.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS HERE

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Hear staff stories about places in the world that made them instantly feel at home, from the Big Easy to the Magic Kingdom. 

WE WANT YOUR STORIES: We’re working on a new slate of episodes that will feature listener stories, and want to hear yours. 

Tell us about a place that makes you feel at home. What made it special? Have you returned there? What sticks out about this place that makes it unique to you?  Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Just so you know, our mailbox will cut you off after 2 minutes so please call in again if you get disconnected. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@atlasobscura.com.

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A city in Uzbekistan used to be the site of one of the world’s largest seas. Now it’s a dusty reminder of one of the largest and most forgotten environmental disasters.

READ MORE: Visit the Stihia website here to learn more about the music festival that happens in Moynaq, including where it may be this year. And this news article is a good primer on some of the current conflicts and issues in the region.

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This tiny island off the coast of Peru is an UNESCO World Heritage site for having the finest textile art. It’s also the place where a knitted hat represents and symbolizes a man’s code of honor, marital status, and love for life. 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/taquile-island

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Producer Baudelaire Ceus searches for the resting place of famed author Richard Wright among the graves of other cultural icons like Gertrude Stein, Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, and Sadegh Hedayat.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/pere-lachaise-cemetery

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We pick up the ball from internet sleuths and journalists and find the mysterious maker of a Minnesota-shaped forest, who’s never spoken about his secret project – until now.

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We follow one man’s journey down an internet rabbit hole that becomes a search for a one-of-a-kind forest and its mysterious creator.

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At one time, sea otters had an enormous historical range—from Baja California, up the West Coast, through Alaska, Russia, and Japan. But these days, their levels are low. In this episode, we get an inside look at a groundbreaking program at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is helping to reverse that by getting rescued sea otter pups back to the wild. 

We produced this episode in partnership with the aquarium. To learn more about the program or get info on visiting, click here.

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We follow a man’s quest to find the remains of a shipwrecked slave ship off the coast of the Florida Keys, and learn about its forgotten history, mysterious remains, and vital legacy.

LEARN MORE: Check out a documentary Karuna Eberl made about the ship – called “ The Guerrero Project.”  She wrote an article about it. A local Florida historian named Gail Swanson wrote a book about the ship, called Slave Ship Guerrero. And of course, you can always get involved with Ken’s organization, Diving With a Purpose.

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These trees sprang from seeds that were brought to outer space.  

Moon Tree Website: https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/moon_tree.html

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/categories/moon-trees

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We go to New Hampshire – but not for politics. Instead, we visit Goffstown, the pumpkin boat capital of New England, and meet the man who came up with an annual, improbable regatta.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: See a video of the annual pumpkin boat race here

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We go to Houston, where a gigantic underground vessel that used to be a water source is now an enchanting – and echo-filled – part of the downtown park system.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/buffalo-bayou-park-cistern

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We get out our passports and visit The Republic of Slowjamastan, a nation built on good vibes, good music and a dream of eliminating one very popular type of footwear.

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We go to Safety Harbor, Florida – where two artists have made their house into a magnet for creativity and culture, and where Troll Dolls, Jello molds, and bowling balls reign. This episode was produced in partnership with Visit St. Pete/Clearwater.

LEARN MORE: Visit kiaralinda.com to see pictures of some of the art at Whimzeyland and for information about getting a tour. And go to visitstpeteclearwater.com to learn about other fun and artsy things to do in the Tampa Bay region.

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This forest in Oslo, Norway will provide the trees for paper as part of a century long art project featuring famed contemporary authors. 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/forest-of-the-future-library

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Forty-two school buses have been buried in Horning’s Mills, Ontario - covered in concrete, they can house up to 500 people in case of nuclear fallout. 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ark-two-shelter

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Congo Square in New Orleans is the heart of where African drumming found its way into American music and the birth of Jazz.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/congo-square

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Turns out, complaining about bad service really is as old as time. Hear the story of an ancient Babylonian clay tablet that has launched a slew of modern memes. Click here for more.

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An archeological site in the country of Georgia, which features the oldest, human skull fossils found outside of Africa, challenges what we think we know about our deep past.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/dmanisi-hominins-brain-shape

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An island off the coast of Puerto Rico is home to more than 1500 imported monkeys, which have been studied by researchers for decades.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cayo-santiago-monkey-island

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The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea has become an accidental bird sanctuary for one of the world’s most endangered crane species. Learn more about the International Crane Foundation at savingcranes.org.

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A grand library in Portugal has some unexpected nighttime caretakers -- tiny bats. 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mafra-palace-library-bats

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These Argentinian parrots have made an unlikely home in a Brooklyn, NY cemetery.

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Finnish Museum of Natural History in Helsinki has had an infestation of Chilean recluse spiders for more than 50 years.

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Take a trip to Micropia, the world’s only museum dedicated to microscopic organisms and learn about our invisible life companions.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/micropia

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Join host Dylan Thuras, a satellite scientist, and a ship captain in search of gigantic swaths of bioluminescence that radiate up from the surface of the sea over thousands of square miles. 

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A toxic lake high in the Andes mountains in Argentina is home to microbes that provide a window to our planet’s past — and a key to securing its future.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/laguna-del-diamante

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There’s an everlasting lightning storm in Northwestern Venezuela that appears in the night sky nearly every night.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/relampago-del-catatumbo

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Science writer Peter Brannen takes listeners on a tour of the world’s five major mass extinctions.

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Where does space stuff go after it dies? To this spot deep, deep in the Pacific ocean.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/spacecraft-cemetery

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Author Mary Roach takes us into the hidden corners of the scientific world. From training to poop in space to the surprisingly pleasant Common Cold Unit, all the way to the inside of Elvis’s colon. If you want to check out her work, we recommend starting with Packing for Mars. 

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Visitors leave bananas on the grave of “America’s First Lady of Space,” an early astronaut whose incredible life was forgotten. 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-grave-of-miss-baker-huntsville-alabama

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We head to a remote region of Russia, to the epicenter of what would become known as the Tunguska Event. An event that may seem unfathomable… except we have firsthand accounts from people who witnessed it.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tunguska-event-epicenter

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Amir Siraj was a sophomore in college when he discovered what may be the first documented interstellar object to hit Earth.

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Chandler, Arizona creates a Christmas Tree made entirely of the diaspore of this Western plant. 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tumbleweed-christmas-tree

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